A sleeping giant? Food waste in the foodservice sector of Russia

Despite being a major global economy, the challenge of food waste in Russia remains unexplored. In particular, nothing is known about the dynamics of food waste generated within its foodservice sector. The lack of empirical knowledge hampers the design of policy and management interventions for food waste reduction in Russian foodservices. This study adopts a qualitative and descriptive case study approach to provide the first benchmark of food wastage in commercial foodservices of Russia. The study shows that an average restaurant produces circa 14 t of food waste per year and the annual sectoral wastage amounts to at least 1.23 Mt, or 7% of the country's total. Most food waste occurs due to the over-production of meals and customer plate leftovers. Albeit the patterns of food waste management in Russian foodservices resemble those adopted by foodservice operators in other markets of food consumption, the study identifies a few approaches that can be classed as ‘best practices’ in Russia and beyond. These ‘best practices’ include incentives given to customers for clean plates and partnerships for food waste reduction formed with local farmers. A framework for more effective management of food waste in Russian foodservices is proposed underpinned by the principles of multi-stakeholder collaboration. This framework advocates the need to build ‘collaborative bubbles’ of foodservice providers, farmers and charities supported by targeted policies. Such bubbles will not only reduce food waste, but can also enhance the social and network capital of all stakeholders involved.